The 4 meter New Robotic Telescope
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The 4 meter New Robotic Telescope
Carlos M. Gutiérrez
(on behalf of the consortium members)
Iain Steele (PI NRT Project) Carlos M. Gutiérrez (PI-IAC) Francisco J. de Cos
Chris Copperwheat Rafael Rebolo
Helen Jermak Johan Knapen
Eamonn Harvey Miguel Torres
Adrian McGrath Asier Oria
Juan J. Sanabria
RIA 2018, Madrid, Octubre 2018
NRT TELESCOPE
In a nutshell:
• International collaboration to build in 5
years time the largest ( 4 m) entirely
robotic telescope in the world with a
extremely quick response (on target in
30 s)
• Sited at ORM in La Palma
• Based on the success of the LT
2m 4m
• Partners:
Estimated cost
LJMU (UK) IAC (Spain) UO (Spain)
20 M€
NRT KEY DRIVERS 1. Entirely robotic operation. 2. Large aperture ( 4 m). 3. Quick response (on target 30 s). 4. Instrumentation (focused on spectroscopy R=100, R~2000). 5. Standarization.
LIVERPOOL TELESCOPE
http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/
• The Liverpool Telescope is a robotic 2 m
alt-az telescope (owner LJMU) in operation
at ORM (La Palma) since 2004.
• Not 'remote controlled' – operated
autonomously without night-time
supervisión
• Software decides what and how to observe
and is responsible for safe operation of
telescope throughout the night
• Flexible nature of LT observing modes
makes it ideal for time domain astronomy
Liverpool Telescope Credits: I. Steele
LIVERPOOL TELESCOPE IMPACT Publications • ~ 40 papers/year (average 36 citations) • 14 publications in Nature/Science (average 86 citations)
NRT opportunity
• Around 2020’s there will be an advent of many new major facilities having a
'time domain' component: new era of time domain science
• Much of the science from these discovery facilities will be obtained from
support from follow-up facilities.
2018
2026 DR2 2018
DR3 2021
NRT
NRT scientific case: Variability across the
spectrum Copperwheat et al. (2015)
• X-ray: LOFT is a ESA M3 candidate (launch ~2025). Wide Field Monitor: X-ray
transient detections and triggers
• Optical: Gaia catalogues DR2 (2018), DR3 (2021): 1 billion of stars with
accurate positions and distances. Millions of variables and binaries.
Statistically complete samples, rare subclases . . .
• Radio: SKA science operations 2020 (phase 1), 2024 (phase 2). Pulsars, radio-
bursts, synchrotron emission from jets, coherent emission from flare stars, . . .
• High energies: Cherenkov Telescope Array begins construction ~2018
-Northern site: AGN, GRBs, clusters
-Southern site: Galactic centre, SNR, pulsars, . . .
NRT transient science
Copperwheat et al. (2015)
Response time Transient phenomena
< 1 min after trigger • GRB afterglows
• Fast radio phenomena
• Neutrino events
• High energy transients (CTA)
< 1 hour after trigger • Early time SNe
~hours • Novae
• SNe
~days • GW
• Tidal disruption events
NRT scientific case: I. GW counterparts
• Already first detection
• ALIGO full sensitivity 2022. Key issues for
detection of GW electromagnetic counterparts:
• Expected discovery rate 10 – 100 transients per
year
• Extremely difficult location (uncertainty ~a few
degrees)
• Prompt emission from merger rapidly fades
Identification and follow-up requirements
• Wide FoV search capability.
• Rapid response.
Soares-Santos et al. and DES
• Efficient spectroscopic classification of large collaboration
numbers of candidates.NRT scientific case: II. Exoplanets
Gaia: NGTS 12 x20 cm telescopes in Paranal
• operational lifetime of 5 years (catalogues TESS NASA mission (2018)
PLATO ESA M3 misión (~2026)
DR2 2018; DR3 2021)
• >1 billion of stars with accurate positions
and distances, but little photometry and
very little spectroscopy
Follow-up with NRT, some examples:
• Planetary formation and evolution
• Atmospheres
• Rings, moons, binary planets
• Jupiters, Neptunes, super-Earths, Earths)
• Stellar systems rather than individual objects Transit light-curves from WASP,
TRAPPIST, and RISE on the LTNRT scientific case: III. GRBs
• Scientific interest: first stars, structure/evolution of universe...
• Detected by space-based facilities (now: Swift, future: SVOM,. . .), follow-up
by ground based telescopes.
• Key point: fast fading afterglows (current facilities ~1 min, NRT~30 s)
• Important LT science highlight, but much still to do in post-Swift era (esp.
short GRBs)
Follow-up requirements:
• Extremely rapid response (more
important than aperture).
• Instrumental capability – photometry
multiband, spectroscopy (perhaps better
suited for 8 m telescopes), polarimetry...
high time resolution (EMCCD) spectra of
fast spikes would be useful
MASTER Global Robotic Net telescopes.V. LipunovNRT
GTC 10.4 m
OBSERVATORIO DEL ROQUE DE LOS MUCHACHOS (ORM), La Palma (Spain)ORM: ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS
Vernin & Muñoz-Tuñón 1995, PASP, 107, 265) García-Lorenzo et al. , 2010, MNRAS 405,
2683–2696, (data from 2001 to 2008)
3.8mm
Mean = 0.76” ( < 0.3” 7%)
Median = 0.64” (0.54” in summer)
Stdev. = 0.17” García-Gil, Muñoz-Tuñón & Varela, PASP, 122 , 1109 (2010)
New Astronomy Reviews, 509-513, 42 (1998),
F. J. Díaz-Castro
N E S W N
www.iac.es/site-testing/DIMMA_ORMNRT project: timeline 2014 – 2016 • Feasibility study, development of science case (Copperwheat et al. 2015). • Forming consortium. 2017 – 2018 • Funding. • Complete consortium. • Conceptual design. 2019 – 2020 • Preliminary design. 2021 – 2022 • Detailed design. • Construction of the telescope and first light instrumentation. 2023 • Integration, first light and commissioning.
NRT design General considerations • A 4 m aperture diameter, robotic mode, 30 s on target • A Ritchey–Chretien design • Fast slewing requirement means a very lightweight structure • Light materials (carbon fibre?) • Rapid response necessitates fully-open enclosure, like the LT's clamshell. • FoV ~ 15' diameter • Full optical and near IR ranges • Focal stations for five instruments • Image elongation no greater than 0.2'' in ten minutes • Optimal image quality at times of median seeing (~0.7'') in La Palma
NRT slewing
Simulations
Copperwheat et al. (2015)
LT NRTNRT possible primary mirror configurations
4m
MONOLITHIC HEX-6
HEX-18 CIR-4
CIR-6 CIR-18NRT primary mirror design design • Much of the mass of a telescope is concentrated in the primary mirror (MONOLITHIC ~5,500 kg) • That can be largely reduced by constructing it out of hexagonal segments (the segments can be much thinner) HEX-6 ~2,700 kg HEX-18 ~900 kg HEX-36 HEX-6 same segment size as used in the 10.4 m GTC, i. e. • mirror support structure for segments of this size already designed • recoating tank for segments of this size already exists at the observatory
NRT instrumentation Use the experience gained with LT: • simple, versatile and robust instruments • quick changes • diversity First light instruments • optical and infrared intermediate resolution spectrograph (R < 10,000) • high cadence imager, polarimetry... Use of new detector technologies to properly exploit the rapid reaction capability of the telescope: • EM (electron multiplying) CCDs now fairly common. • CMOS detectors. Very fast. QE now improving • MKIDS: Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors • ...
NRT spectroscopy
texp=1800 sec observations
Copperwheat et al. (2015)NRT spectroscopy
texp=180 s
Copperwheat et al. (2015)Future of LT • Keep LT running as a complement of LT2 • Requires simplification of LT operations, reduction in operational costs. • A proposal to replace all current instruments by a single prime focus imager FOV ~2 x 2 sq. deg. for surveys, gravitational wave counterpart searches... • Cost ~10% of overall project budget
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
There are two initiatives to dedicate 5 % of the total observing time to educational
programmes:
-UK: National School’s Observatory (NSO)
http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/
-Spain Proyecto Educativo con Telescopios Robóticos (PETeR)
www.iac.es/peter
They provide astronomical teaching resources and a very easy interface to allow
teachers and students to request astronomical observations with LT, guiding
through the whole process.
Some examples
NRT will implement
and improve similar
programmes
http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/obs/software/examplesSummary NRT
1. Key astronomical facility (power: 4 m and quick response: 30 s) for the new
era of time domain astronomy.
2. Current partners (LJMU, IAC and UO) with huge experience building and
operating large telescopes and instrumentation.
3. Opportunity to develop and implement new technologies in control,
detectors, light materials, etc.
4. Sited at ORM with superb atmospheric conditions.
5. Standard for a future generation of large robotic telescopes.
6. Open to educational programmes.You can also read
